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Casino Royale Movie Review

“You changed your shirt, Mr. Bond.  I hope our little game isn’t causing you to perspire.” - Le Chiffre
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Casino Royale was directed by Martin Campbell, and is the first film to star Daniel Craig as James Bond.  The movie also stars Eva Green, Mads Mikkelsen, and Judi Dench.  In this film, MI6 Agent James Bond achieves 00 status and earns his licence to kill.  From there, he is assigned his first mission as Agent 007, and we follow Bond as he goes up against a terrorist financier named Le Chiffre in a game of poker, in an attempt to make him go bankrupt. 
When it came out in 2006, nobody had ever seen a Bond film like Casino Royale.  It took familiar staples of the classic Bond films and turned them on their heads.  The film served as a reboot for the Bond series, and next to Mad Max: Fury Road, Casino Royale is one of my favorite reboots of a popular franchise.  It does what all great reboots should do: it gives familiar characters and tropes a new style.  Rarely did we see Bond movies that were dark and gritty before Daniel Craig stepped in to portray the character.  I think this style works especially well for the series, considering that this was the style of the original Ian Fleming Bond novels.  
Visually, this movie looks spectacular.  The costumes and makeup are wonderful, the sets and locations are lavish and beautiful, and the action scenes are filmed using wide shots so that we can clearly see all of the small details while still getting the bigger picture.  There are lots of practical effects in this film that make all the action setpieces feel very realistic.  There were never any moments that I could tell that CGI was being used, and I really liked that.  Another thing about Casino Royale that tends to go unnoticed is its use of color.  Different colors are used to project different moods and even agendas of different characters at certain points in the story.
The film sounds great as well.  The score by David Arnold is smooth and stylish, and Chris Cornell’s opening song “You Know My Name” is equal parts jazzy, tough, and hard-hitting.  The sound editing and mixing are superb and make you feel as if you’re in the middle of each scene.  The acting is perfect in Casino Royale, and everybody gives performances that are extremely convincing.  The line delivery is truly incredible, and always has just the right amount of humor, sadness, anger, passion, or wit to keep you on your toes.  
My only issue with Casino Royale isn’t even technically a real issue.  I wanted more.  The only problem with wanting more is that the film is already two hours and twenty-four minutes long, and it wraps up just about as well as it could have.  There really isn’t anything more to add to the film that would improve its quality.  I think just saying that proves that Casino Royale is absolutely worth your time, and I highly recommend checking it out. 
Rating: PG-13
Grade: A

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